Kitchen sink drains very slow

Asked Sep 23, 2009, 01:13 PM
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10 Answers

Hi guys, let me start by admitting my lack of plumbing knowledge or skills. I have a kitchen sink that is backed up. The water starts standing within a few seconds of running the faucet. I took apart everything under the sink and cleaned it out. I snaked the pipe that goes into the wall under the sink. The house was built in 2000. None of the other drains in the house are clogged although my bathroom sink needs drano every few months. Any ideas?? Could it have something to do with this water purifier that's hooked up. That thing started leaking a year ago so I just shut off the water lines running to it.? I'm super lost. I'd appreciate it if you can keep it really simple since I have no idea what's going on.

Your water purifier has nothing to do with the sink drain problem. Have you tried an old fashioned plunger on the sink drain? I'll betcha that will unclog whatever is in the line. And for your other drain, try the plunger before using drano.

Forget the plunger since it sounds like your clog is pretty far down stream past the vent stack. How far did you get your snake to go> Does this sink and the bathroom sink happen to be back to back in the home sharing the same drain line. Try to avoid chemicals especially with a bathroom sink. The slow bath usually is hair and body oil right below the stopper. Get on of these, cheap and may be what you need for the bath. Zip-It Unclog Drains in Seconds

I got the snake at least 8 to 10 feet in. it wouldn't go any further. The bathroom and kitchen sink aren't back to back, they're only about 15 feet apart though. I don't know if they share a drain line. I read on another thread to fill both sides of the sink with about 2 inches of water, and cover one side with a towel and plunge the other side. I'll try that. I hope its not the main drain.

If you snaked the pipe inside the wall all the way to the vent stack then that line's clear.
This means that the clog's farther on down the drain line. You get to that from the kitchen roof vent. Snake from there. Put out enough snake to reach the base and 16 feet more. When I snake a clogged sink from the roof I always make sure the traps installed and run water in the sink until I have some standing water.
When I get the clog the water will drain away telling me that it's clear. Good luck, Tom

You can't plunge a clog this far down the line. By trying you will just psuh the standing water up and down inside the vent stack which is a pipe running up to above your roof line. Like Tom says, you can rod down that stack from the roof with enough rod to reach roof to basement floor plus 20'. Before you go up on the roof check all your drains lines downstream to see if you have ny clean outs, much esaier if you find them.

Hi guys, thanks for all your help. I was able to get it open by snaking the pipe on the outside of my house. It was right behind the kitchen sink wall, had a little white stopper. Thanks again for all your help.

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